Beachwood Woman Gets 7 Years For Pocketing $345,213 In Illegal Unemployment Benefits

A Beachwood woman who pleaded guilty to filing $345,213 in false claims for unemployment benefits will spend the next seven years in state prison, state Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino.

Erica Rivera, 35, pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception back in December. She used the names of friends and unknowing clients in her now-defunct tax preparation business Compassionate Financial Services, he said.

She also agreed to make restitution for the full amount to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The state has already recovered $31,000 in restitution, Porrino said.

“Rivera was systematic in her scheme to steal unemployment benefits from the state, but she learned that the state is even more systematic in rooting out fraud,” Porrino said. “We’ll continue to work with the Department of Labor to put swindlers like Rivera in prison and protect this vital safety net for New Jersey’s unemployed.”

Rivera admitted that, from September 2012 to June 2015, she engaged in a scheme in which she filed false online applications for unemployment benefits and received benefit payments in the names of 24 purported former employees of her tax preparation business, Compassionate Financial Services (“CFS”). The false applications resulted in 27 unemployment insurance claims and 521 payments, he said.

Rivera use the identification information of relatives, acquaintances and former clients of her business who apparently were not aware she was filing claims.

"Rivera posed as the claimants in certifying online each week that they met the eligibility requirements to receive benefits," according to Porrino."She also posed as certain claimants when the state labor department telephoned to verify information. Beneficiaries are issued debit cards and receive unemployment benefits through direct deposit to accounts associated with the cards. Rivera received debit cards at a drop box at a postal store which she used as the address for most of the claims."

The investigation began with a referral from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, which uncovered the suspicious claims. The Philadelphia Police Department, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Department of Labor-Office of Inspector General assisted in the investigation. Deputy Attorney General Christopher Keating prosecuted Rivera and handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice.

She was captured on surveillance cameras using a number of the debit cards to withdraw funds at ATM locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., Porrino said.

“Unemployment insurance fraud hurts honest New Jersey workers who count on these benefits to keep them afloat financially if they lose their jobs,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We’re putting con artists on notice that we will aggressively prosecute this type of fraud.”

Since 2011, the Department of Labor has been cracking down on unemployment insurance fraud, saving the New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund more than $750 million to date, he said.

Image: New Jersey Office of the Attorney General